Raymond "Shrimp Boy" Chow appears in this courtroom sketch before U.S. Magistrate Judge Nathanael Cousins in San Francisco March 26, 2014. Chow, previously convicted in a San Francisco organized crime probe was arrested with several others including California state Senator Leland Yee on Wednesday as federal investigators conducted public corruption raids across California, shaking up the election season in the nation's most populous state.

Photo: Vicki Behringer, Reuters

Raymond "Shrimp Boy" Chow appears in this courtroom sketch before...

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Raymond "Shrimp Boy'' Chow shows the certificate that was arranged by city Supervisor Fiona Ma in 2006.

n Chinatown's Spofford Alley in 2007, SFPD inspectors Jameson Pon, left,
and Henry Seto, center, stop to talk with Raymond Chow, the chairman of
the Ghee Kung Tong nearby.
SFPD Inspectors Henry Seto and Jameson Pon are members of the Gang Task
Force. Their beat is San Francisco's Chinatown where they both grew up.
Like others in the task force, they spend their evenings trying to find
suspects and gather information in the maze of Asian culture that is
Chinatown.

Photo: Brant Ward, SFC

n Chinatown's Spofford Alley in 2007, SFPD inspectors Jameson Pon,...

Image 7 of 9

In 2007, While neighborhood children play all around them, SFPD inspectors Jameson Pon, left and Henry Seto, center, stop and talk with Raymond Chow, the chairman of Ghee Kung Tong.
SFPD Inspectors Henry Seto and Jameson Pon are members of the Gang Task Force. Their beat is San Francisco's Chinatown where they both grew up. Like others in the task force, they spend their evenings trying to find suspects and gather information in the maze of Asian culture that is Chinatown.

Photo: Brant Ward, SFC

In 2007, While neighborhood children play all around them, SFPD...

Image 8 of 9

Convicted Chinatown gang member Raymond "Shrimpboy'' Chow's certificate of honor from the city.

Photo: Special To The Chronicle, SFC

Convicted Chinatown gang member Raymond "Shrimpboy'' Chow's...

Image 9 of 9

Raymond "Shrimp Boy" Chow (center, back row) appears in this courtroom sketch before U.S. Magistrate Judge Nathanael Cousins in San Francisco March 26, 2014. Chow, previously convicted in a San Francisco organized crime probe was arrested with several others including California state Senator Leland Yee on Wednesday as federal investigators conducted public corruption raids across California, shaking up the election season in the nation's most populous state.

(04-02) 11:01 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- Raymond "Shrimp Boy" Chow, who was charged along with state Sen. Leland Yee on Wednesday, claims he has changed his ways since leaving prison in 2003.

In recent years, the notorious Chinatown gang leader has been telling groups of troubled youths to resist a life of crime while touting his awards from politicians, including U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein and San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, who praised him in July 2012 "for his tenacity and willingness to give back to the community and working 'in the trenches' as a change agent."

His Facebook page features a photo of himself with former San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, now California's lieutenant governor.

Video: Who Is Raymond Chow? KPIX 5 Report From 2006

Who Is Raymond Chow? KPIX 5 Report From 2006

Media: San Francisco Chronicle

But, according to an FBI affidavit unsealed Wednesday, Chow simply adopted the look of legitimacy.

At a February 2012 meeting among Chow, driver and associate George Nieh, and an undercover FBI agent to discuss a shipment of stolen liquor, Chow said, "I don't have any knowledge of the crimes that pay for my meal." Then he added: "I'm still eating though. I'm hungry."

Despite his pronouncements of being reformed, Chow remained very much at the heart of a criminal network, according to an affidavit by FBI Special Agent Emmanuel Pascua as federal officials on Wednesday revealed a sweeping prosecution alleging money laundering, weapons and narcotics trafficking and influence peddling, among other crimes. Twenty-six people, including Yee, were charged.

Top role as 'dragon head'

Chow holds a "supreme authority" position in the Triad, an international Chinese organized crime group; heads the Hop Sing Boys, a San Francisco street gang; and serves as the "dragon head," or leader, of the Ghee Kung Tong, a Chinese brotherhood that allegedly provided cover for criminal operations after Chow took over in 2006, according to the affidavit.

Chow had regularly referred to his "legitimate" business plans, including producing a movie about his life and having $50,000 on hand to publish an autobiography, but money laundering, illegally imported diesel and stolen liquor were also discussed, according to the documents.

Chow "readily accepted payments" for money laundering and told an undercover agent that while he "does not engage in criminal activity himself, he knows what is going on in his organization and approves of all criminal activity," according to the affidavit.

He has previously claimed to have joined an organized crime group at age 9 in his native Hong Kong. He has said he joined Hop Sing soon after arriving in the United States in 1976 at age 16 and would later boast that he controlled all Asian gangs in San Francisco.

"If you are asking me which gang did I join, I did not join any gang," Chow told a federal prosecutor in 2002. "I owned the gang. ... All those people who were walking the streets of the Bay Area, all of them were controlled by me."

Indicted for racketeering

In 1992, authorities indicted Chow and 26 others for racketeering, saying Hop Sing was involved in everything from underage prostitution to the international heroin trade.

Chow pleaded guilty to federal racketeering charges in 2000 and was sentenced to 160 months in prison but was released in 2003 after he testified against fellow Hop Sing leader Peter Chong.

Chow became the leader of Ghee Kung Tong, or Chinese free masons, in August 2006, six months after its "dragon head," Allen Leung, was shot to death in his Chinatown import-export business. Leung's murder remains unsolved. Chow cut a striking figure at Leung's funeral, wearing a white suit in a sea of black.

The revelation that Chow had been arrested again stunned Rudy Corpuz Jr. head of United Playaz, a violence prevention program focused on youths, whose motto is "It takes the hood to save the hood."

Corpez said he had invited Chow a couple of times a year to speak to groups of youths about staying out of prison and making wise choices, starting about seven years ago.

"He had made a transition in his life," Corpez said. "He had a very powerful, positive message - very convincing. When I listened to him, I believed him."